Hi-NRG

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Hi-NRG (High Energy) is a type of electronic dance music which emerged and then became popular in nightclubs in the early 1980s. It continues to be popular today.

Contents

[edit] Hi-NRG disco and Hi-NRG timeline

Hi-NRG Disco started in 1976 in the United States as an underground genre, faster and more electronic than mainstream disco. The first commercial hit of the genre was Donna Summer's "I Feel Love".

From 1977 to 1979, a similar sound developed in Europe, known as Space Disco, by artists such as Cerrone, Space (electronic band), Dee D. Jackson and Sheila B. Devotion. Space Disco became one of the roots of Italo disco later in the 1980s (Laserdance and Koto continued this European Hi-NRG variation in instrumentally for years). Space Disco wasn't as sexually-oriented as '70s Hi-NRG Disco and included more Sci-Fi elements. Vocals were much less common in Space Disco. In America, many European productions with this sound were marketed as Hi-NRG Disco.

From 1979 to 1983, Hi-NRG was the only music style that remained under the "disco" flag in the United States. It became intensely popular, especially among gay males in coastal cities such as New York City and San Francisco. During this period, most Hi-NRG disco tracks were produced in Canada and France. Typical examples of artists or singers of early '80s American Hi-NRG disco include Amanda Lear, France Joli, Sylvester James, Divine, and the Weather Girls. Bobby Orlando was behind many Hi-HRG hits around this time, either as a producer or composer.

In the same period, a non-gay Hi-NRG disco-like music style emerged in Canada, which Europeans called Canadian Disco. The most popular groups of this style are Trans-X and Lime. In Europe, Canadian Disco productions became an active part of the Italo Disco scene (later labeled 80s Euro disco).

In 1982 and 1983, Hi-NRG Disco helped to influence the creation of House music in Chicago. The term "Hi-NRG Disco" disappeared. The term "Canadian Disco" followed suit a year later and was replaced by Italo-Disco in Europe and Hi-NRG in USA (without the "disco").

In 1983, the term "Hi-NRG" appeared (without the "disco"). It became widespread in its usage with Evelyn Thomas's hit, "High Energy" (1984), produced by Ian Levine in London. The term remained popular in the United States with such hits as ″Time Bomb″ by Jeanie Tracy (1983), ″From A Whisper to a Scream″ (1985) by Bobby Orlando, ″Helpless (You Took My Love)″ (1984) by The Flirts, ″Work Me Over″ (1983) and ″Born To Love″ (1985) by Claudja Barry. For the next several years, the term "Hi-NRG" was used in Europe and United States to refer to very different music styles.

In the USA, "Hi-NRG" was used as the first name of Freestyle music from 1984 to early 1986. Shannon ("Let the Music Play", "Give Me Tonight"), Freeez ("I.O.U.") and Michael Sembello ("Maniac") were labelled "Hi-NRG" at the time. From 1985 to 1987 the term "Hi-NRG" was also used to describe the Eurobeat productions of the Stock Aitken Waterman British production team. This was mainly due to the success of the hit "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) by Dead or Alive in 1985, followed by equally successful hits by Bananarama, especially, "Venus" (1986) and "I Heard A Rumour" (1987). These eurobeat hits were labelled "Hi-NRG" in the States to gain popularity among the remaining Hi-NRG Disco fans (a "retro" underground gay scene in NYC). Many Eurobeat hits imported to the USA for the next couple of years were labelled "Hi-NRG" for this reason.

In Europe, "Hi-NRG" became the term used to describe (commercial) American Freestyle music and some Dance-pop artists. From 1985 to 1988, Hi-NRG for Europeans meant Taylor Dayne, Cover Girls and Mandy Smith. In 1988-1989, the term evolved one final time to describe a sped-up version of eurodisco (with italo disco and eurobeat elements), very popular among European gay fans, then American fans. Examples of this music style are Paul Lekakis ("Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room)") and the London Boys. This last change in definition has remained what Hi-NRG is generally taken to refer to at present.

For French-speaking fans of Hi-NRG, the term "Nu-NRG" has been used for the late '80s to mid-'90s productions, and the term keeps on all the later revival attempts. (Search the French Wikipedia for details).

In Australia, Hi-NRG still exists. One popular venue that still boasts this style of music is UN Sydney (also known as DCM 'Don't Cry Momma'). The venue has been operating for over 17 years, and to this day NRG music can be heard every Saturday with DJs such as DJ Alex K, Sunset Bros, Rata, Charlie Brown, Scotty O, Andre Jay, Micky D, Steve Hill, Drakez and more. Between 2005 and 2007, Several CD compilations have been released under the Hi-NRG genre including DCM Classics, Klubbed Volumes 1 & 2, and the multi-volume Ultimate NRG set.

[edit] The term "NRG" and other music styles not related with Hi-NRG

During the mid to late '90s, the French term (Nu-NRG) was used in the UK to describe a new, hard dance music style which evolved during the early 00s, also called Hard NRG or Scouse house. Those UK Nu-NRG/Hard NRG hits, which many UK fans call simply "NRG". Many fans feel that this style has nothing to do with older Hi-NRG music styles, nor with Nu-NRG as it is used by French fans.

[edit] Terminology, origins, past and present

The term "Hi-NRG" has been used to refer to two periods or styles of music: first in the 1970s as "Hi-NRG Disco," and later in the early 1980s as "Hi-NRG."

The initial usage was in 1977, as an attempt to describe the underground, faster and more electronic form of disco produced in the United States at this time. Specifically, when Donna Summer was interviewed about her successful single "I Feel Love," she said that "this song became a hit because it has a High Energy Vibe" (the interview still shows occasionally on VH1 UK each time they have a "Disco Special" night). After that interview, this electronic form of American Disco took the nickname "Hi-NRG Disco." In Europe, a similar music style (with less use of vocals) took the nickname "Space Disco." The DJ/Producer Patrick Cowley made some later and less disco-sounding American Hi-NRG productions popular, at the "The End Up" club in San Francisco, in 1982. Those productions didn't have a specific name at the time, but came to form the bridge between '70s Hi-NRG Disco and 80s Hi-NRG music.

The term "Hi-NRG" without the "Disco," was first officially mentioned in the UK music magazine Record Mirror in 1983, which championed the gay underground sound and published a weekly Hi-NRG Chart. The first ever Hi-NRG record to hit the UK's Top 100 was Hazell Dean's "Searching (I Got To Find A Man)," released on Proto Records. However, the term "Hi-NRG" was brought to mass attention by Evelyn Thomas's hit, "High Energy" (1984), produced by Ian Levine in London. This form of "Hi-NRG", is typified by an energetic staccato sequenced synthesizer sound, where the bass often takes the place of the hi-hat (alternating a more resonant note with a dampened note to signify the tempo of the record). There is also often heavy use of the clap sound found on drum machines.

During 1984 the music began to crossover into the mainstream pop charts in the United Kingdom and the United States, largely due to the success of the Record Shack record label. It was around this time that the term "Hi-NRG" started to be used widely to describe various dance music styles related from the Disco Era, but not based on the so called "new sound", like "New Beat. The Record Shack label also enjoyed chart success with tracks by Break Machine, Miquel Brown and an unlikely comeback single by Eartha Kitt ("Where Is My Man", 1984), which proved to be a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

The British producer trio Stock Aitken Waterman, were Hi-NRG producers at the start of their careers, working with artists like Divine and Hazell Dean. Eventually, they created their own music style, called Eurobeat, which is the UK's answer to Italo Disco. Because of their previous success on the American market, all of the trio's Eurobeat productions in the mid-1980s, marketed as "Hi-NRG" in the USA, sold well, and one of them, Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" became the most successful Hi-NRG single ever. The song reached number one on the UK Singles chart and the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.A.

Stock Aiken Waterman's "Hi-NRG" version (which actually was Eurobeat, lasted around 6 years and disappeared totally around 1991. The original Hi-NRG music was largely superseded by House music by 1990 but still enjoys an underground following, usually in the form of Hi-NRG versions of mainstream pop hits.

A second generation of Hi-NRG emerged during the 1990s, and it was a major force in the Club/Dance music world, thanks to the success of several prominent Hi-NRG artists and the Rockamerica Hi NRG - like remixes of various popular hits. A crossover of Eurodisco and Hi-NRG helped even more to remain popular on the underground American gay disco scene, with artists such as RuPaul, Kristine W, Abigail, Nicki French, Lonnie Gordon, Kym Sims and, more recently, Sean Ensign. The basic production of the 1990s sound has remained nearly the same, however, the rhythms and synths used sound different, and the overall tone is usually edgier. Finally, the latest Hi-NRG productions, place greater emphasis on vocal personality.

[edit] Artists

[edit] Records

All of these records reached the Hi-NRG charts in the 1980s:

  • Bianca - Midnight Lover
  • Bodyheat - No! Mr Boom Boom (Diamond Records
  • Miquel Brown - He's a Saint He's a Sinner (Record Shack Records)
  • Miquel Brown - So Many Men So Little Time (Record Shack Records)
  • Crystal In The Pink - Back To You
  • Celena Duncan - Questions And Answers (Nightmare Records)
  • Barbara Doust - If You Love Somebody
  • Sisley Ferre - For You (Hotsound Records)
  • Fun Fun - Give Me Your Love
  • Fun Fun - Color My Love
  • Samantha Gilles - Stop
  • Havana - Satisfy My Desire (Wow Records)
  • Carol Jiani - Turning My Back And Walking Away (Nightmare Records)
  • Lanei - Love Bites (Opium Records)
  • Lime - Gold Digger (TSR Records)
  • Lisa - Rocket to Your Heart (Moby Dick Records)
  • M&H Band - Popcorn
  • Marsha Raven - I Like Plastic
  • Man To Man - Hard Hitting Love (Nightmare Records)
  • Midnight Sunrise - This Is A Haunted House (Nightmare Records)
  • Modern Rocketry - I Feel Love Coming (Megatone Records)
  • Off - Electrica Salsa (Ton Son Ton Records)
  • Linda Jo Rizzo - Perfect Love
  • Shooting Party - Safe In The Arms Of Love
  • Sandra - Everlasting Love (PWL remix) (Virgin Records)
  • Helena Springs - Paper Money (Atlantic Records)
  • Scherrie Payne- I'm Not In Love (Megatone)
  • Scherrie Payne - One Night Only (ALtair)
  • Scherrie Payne - Chasing Me Into Somebody Else's Arms (Nightmare Gold)
  • Scott Stryker - Science Fiction
  • T-Ark - Undercover Lover (ZYX Records)
  • Linda Taylor - Every Waking Hour (Nightmare Records)
  • Tuillio De Piscopo - Stop Bajon (Primavera) (Greyhound Records)
  • Vivien Vee - HeartBeat (X-Energy Records)
  • XS-S - I Need More (VCN Records)
  • Laura Branigan - Shattered Glass (Atlantic Records)

[edit] Number Ones

These records reached Number One in the Hi-NRG charts compiled by James Hamilton and Alan Jones in Record Mirror

[edit] Cover Versions in the Hi-NRG style

[edit] Record Labels

Record labels that most frequently appeared in Record Mirror's Hi-NRG chart are as follows:

  • Bolts Records -
  • Butterfly Records -
  • Flea Records - Italy
  • JDC Records - "United States"
  • Hi Tension Records - Belgium
  • Macho Records - Italy
  • Megatone Records - United States
  • Nightmare Records - United States
  • Passion Records - Canada
  • Record Shack Records
  • Time Records - Italy
  • X-Energy Records - Italy
  • MRK Records - NYC
  • ZYX Records - Germany
  • D6 Records - Manchester/UK

[edit] Other Hi-NRG Record Labels

  • Dance Street Records - Germany
  • Klone Records - Netherlands
  • Radikal Records- United States
  • Megahit Records - United States
  • Almighty Records - United Kingdom

[edit] Source

  • Jones, Alan and Kantonen, Jussi (1999) Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco. Chicago, Illinois: A Cappella Books. ISBN 1-55652-411-0.

[edit] External links

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Disco